A sheep in wolf's clothing

Captain America : Civil Wars

It was being touted as the biggest Marvel Movie yet and the best and in some ways I think it was both. Captain America: Civil War is a 2016 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the thirteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and features an ensemble cast that includes Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt and Daniel Brühl. In Captain America: Civil War, set one year after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, disagreement over international oversight of the Avengers fractures them into opposing factions, one led by Steve Rogers and another by Tony Stark.

The movie starts off in 1991 in Siberia where a brainwashed Bucky / Winter Soldier is sent by Hydra to intercept an automobile carrying a case of super-soldier serum and assassinate its occupants. Approximately one year after Ultron’s defeat in Sokovia at the hands of the Avengers, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos. Rumlow blows himself up, but when Wanda tries to displace the blast into the sky, it destroys a nearby building, killing a number of Wakandan humanitarian workers. The repercussions are massive; despite the fact that millions see the Avengers as heroes, some question how they can be contained and controlled. At the team’s headquarters, U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish an international governing body to oversee and control the Avengers. The team is divided: Tony Stark supports oversight because he feels responsible for Ultron’s creation and Sokovia’s devastation while Rogers has more faith in his own judgement than the government’s.

Rogers goes to attend Peggy Carter’s funeral and speaks to her grandniece, former SHIELD agent and now CIA operative Sharon Carter. Romanoff comes to the funeral and tries to convince Rogers to join but he is steadfast in his belief. At the conference in Vienna where the Accords are to be ratified, a bomb kills King T’Chaka of Wakanda. Security footage indicates the bomber is Barnes, who T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa, vows to kill. Sharon Carter tips off Rogers to Barnes’ location and that the government does not plan to take him alive. Because Barnes is an old friend and war comrade, Rogers decides to capture Barnes himself, without authorization. Rogers and Wilson track Barnes to his hideout in Bucharest and attempt to protect him from the authorities and T’Challa, but Rogers, Wilson, Barnes, and T’Challa are apprehended. Bucky is chained and taken to a Berlin facilty for questioning. Meanwhile Helmut Zemo kills Bucky’s former HYDRA handler who is now living a retired life and and steals a book containing the trigger words that activate Barnes’ brainwashing. He infiltrates the Berlin facility where Barnes is held and recites the words to make Barnes obey him. He questions Barnes, then sends him on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers stops Barnes and sneaks him away.

When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is heading for the Siberian Hydra facility where the other brainwashed super-soldiers are kept in cryogenic stasis. Knowing that they will never catch Zemo in time if they wait for authorization, Rogers and Wilson decide to go rogue, and recruit Wanda, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. Convincing Ross to let him bring his renegade comrades in, Stark assembles a team comprised of Romanoff, T’Challa, James Rhodes, and Vision, as well as high school student Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Stark and his team intercept Rogers’s team at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where they fight. Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape. The rest of Rogers’s team is captured and detained at the Raft prison, while Rhodes is partially paralyzed after being accidentally shot down by Vision. Stark finds evidence that Barnes was framed by Zemo and shows it to Wilson, who gives him Rogers’s destination. Without informing Ross, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra facility and strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, unaware he was secretly followed by T’Challa. They discover that the other Winter Soldiers have been killed by Zemo, whose real goal was to search Hydra’s archives for proof that it was Stark’s parents whom Barnes killed in 1991.

Zemo is Sokovian and wants to tear the Avengers apart in revenge for his family’s death. Rogers confesses that he knew of this, which pushes Stark over the edge. In the ensuing fight, Stark blasts off Barnes’s robotic arm and Rogers disables Stark’s armor. Rogers departs with Barnes and leaves his shield behind. Satisfied that he has irreparably fractured the Avengers, Zemo attempts suicide, but T’Challa apprehends him. In the aftermath, Stark provides Rhodes with exoskeletal leg braces to let him walk again while Rogers breaks his comrades out of prison. In a mid-credits scene, Barnes chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found in Wakanda, where T’Challa has granted him and Rogers asylum. In a post-credits scene, Parker is recovering from his injuries when his web-shooters project a Spider-Man symbol on his bedroom ceiling.

Simply awesome and amazing to see all these heroes in action. I think Spider-Man played by Tom Holland kinda steals the show, playing him exactly like how a raw, 6 months into getting his super powers, teenager who is awe struck by seeing the Avengers would be and act like. In his 20 minute role he draws many laughs and gets the “oooh” moment when he is first seen in his spidey coustume and flicks the shield away from Cap and his “Hey, everyone”. Paul Rudd as Ant-Man also has some laughs. Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther is also awesome in a hero who has his nations’ and people’s best interests at heart and follows in the tradition of being the Black Panter. The stage is set for more awesome action flicks for the Avengers and more of the individual heroes. There is bound to be Spider-Man films, Ant-Man flims and possibly a Black Widow film and maybe even more. I give this film a 9.5 outta 10!